I was kind of scared to meet him at first
by Leoloco
Summary: Short stories from different POVs with one common theme: first meetings. One new story added!, probably the last one
1. Alan

A/N: One day I decided to try and write drabbles, stories of about a 100 words. That idea evolved in my head and eventually turned into this. The stories are a bit longer than I intended, and all of them start and finish with same sentence. Each written from a different POV, and all about another person. I hope you enjoy it and I would love a review!

Summary: Short stories from different POV's with one common theme. First meetings.

Disclaimer: Don't own it, wish I did.

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Alan

I was kind of scared to meet him at first. Well, maybe not scared, more like anxious. Nervous.

Over the last few weeks Charlie could not stop talking about how he finally found someone who understood him, a mentor, a friend. Professor Larry Fleinhardt.

I knew that if Charlie really saw this man as a friend I would accept it. But why did Charlie have faculty members as friends? What if this guy was only using Charlie as a personal puppet? He had established quite a name already and in his entire life people had wanted to claim him as their own little genius. What if this man was the same as all the others and Charlie didn't see it? But more important, would there be anything I could or should do about it?

These considerations made me scared. I would be meeting the man who might have a huge impact on my son, and I was not sure whether that would be positive or not. Charlie had always been someone who needed a little more attention, and I could not help but be a bit reprehensive with meeting this person.

And now he had invited me and Margaret to meet him at the university.

On the way over I decided not to let my feelings show to Margaret, not sure whether she would become worried as well or laugh at my over-protectiveness. With clammy hands I approached the information desk where we had agreed to meet professor Fleinhardt.

When we arrived there we saw nobody who looked like the professor we had in mind, so we asked the man behind the desk to point us to his office.

'Professor Fleinhardt? There he is.' He said and pointed to a man who I had not noticed when I walked in. He appeared to be engrossed in some internal debate and was talking to himself. He was scratching his head with his hand, and when we ventured closer I could hear him mumble. Was this the brilliant professor Charlie thought so highly about?

My anxiousness was immediately replaced by curiosity. This was a man who was interesting in many aspects, not only because he was my son's friend, but his presence alone made me smile. When we were close enough I touched him on the shoulder, startling him. He turned around to us. He looked in my eyes for a few moments and we both seemed to find what we were looking for. Then he started talking.

'Mr. Eppes. My name is Lawrence Fleinhardt, but please call me Larry. It's very fortunate to finally meet you.' And he extended his hand.

The moment I had looked him in the eye and he had spoken these words I knew that I had nothing to worry about.


	2. Colby

Colby

I was kind of scared to meet him at first.

I had only just started working at the Los Angeles FBI office, and from the first day on I had heard stories about him. He was five years younger than his brother but they graduated the same day, he could multiply 4 digit numbers in his head when he was three, he could read encrypted codes like it was a novel, he only had to look at a pile of data and he could develop an algorithm that could solve the crime in a moment. He was one of the greatest mathematicians in the world.

In other words, a nerd.

Just like the kids I had terrorized and bullied in high school.

Those weren't things I was keen to remember, and I'm certainly not proud of it. For years I had been able to ignore it, fighting a war in Afghanistan had been a major distraction. I took that time to change some things in myself, for the better. But now I **was** reminded of it. The prototype of the people I did horrible things to at high school would be coming through the door in a few moments.

I wondered if he would recognize me.

Of course we hadn't met before, but maybe he could recognize the bully in me, the bully I had tried so hard to banish out of me. I may not be the same person I was, but that horrible person I once was would probably be something I would have to carry with me all my life. My only hope was that nobody else could see it. But if there was one person who might be able to recognize that part of me, it would be the man about to walk in.

With clammy hands I awaited his arrival, trying to keep my attention to my work.

After a few minutes I could hear David and Don greet someone walking in. I looked up, and there he was.

A man with dark brown long curly hair, and although I knew that he was a tenured professor he could easily have passed for a student, wearing a red t-shirt and a pair of jeans. Don pointed at me, probably introducing me to Charlie.

He immediately walked over to my desk and extended his hand to me, introducing himself.

'Hi, I'm Charlie. Nice to meet you.'

He looked me right in the eye, and it took me a few moments to realize that there was nothing but genuine interest in there. Inwardly I sighed of relief, and I knew that I had nothing to worry about.


	3. Amita

Little ship-ness, dedicated to Amsterdam :)

Amita

I was kind of scared to meet him at first.

Charlie and I had been working together for a few months now, and one day he had invited me to come over to his house. We would just be working on some work for my thesis, so there was nothing scary about that. But going to his house would mean meeting his father.

Usually I wasn't nervous at all about meeting new people, but this was different. This was Charlie's father. And from what I heard this man meant a great deal to him. So whatever his father might think of me, that would mean a great deal too.

It felt like I was going to meet my father-in-law.

The moment I thought that, I quickly dismissed it. Of course this would be different. Charlie was my thesis advisor, nothing else. I would just be meeting the father of my thesis advisor, and there was nothing to worry about.

It was not like Charlie was my boyfriend.

I kept telling myself that, but although I knew that he was only my thesis advisor and friend at the moment I could not help but imagine a future where Charlie could be more than that. And in that sense, I **was** about to meet my father-in-law.

I got out of my car and walked to the door. With clammy hands I rang the bell.

Charlie opened the door and led me in. He immediately started talking about my thesis and how he was intrigued by some of the techniques I had used, but I couldn't really concentrate to hear what he was saying. I followed him to the living room where a man was reading the paper.

The moment he noticed me walking in he laid down the paper, got up from his chair and with a big smile he extended his hand.

'Hi Amita. I'm Alan. So you're the one who's occupying such a large part of my son's head lately?'

From the corner of my eye I saw Charlie turning red and realized I might not be the only one who had visions about the future. This man was way ahead of me, and I knew I had nothing to worry about.


	4. Megan

A/N: Since we don't know where Megan comes from, I made something up. :)

Megan

I was kind of scared to meet him at first.

I had been working at the Boston FBI department for years, and now I was going to work in Los Angeles, in the team of Special Agent Don Eppes. I had no idea who he was, knowing only the name, but still I managed to be scared.

I had no idea why.

It couldn't be the fact that he would be my direct boss. I had worked for several bosses before and I knew that I would be working with other bosses in the future.

It couldn't be the fact that I was moving to LA. I didn't have any strong ties to Boston anyway, and Los Angeles had always sounded interesting to me.

It could be the fact that even in Boston the name Eppes meant something. The team of Special Agent Don Eppes had been explicitly mentioned in the annual overall FBI reports, and my own boss had decided to make sure that we would remember him and his team. The top percentage of crimes solved in the past year.

And now I would be joining that team.

Of course I was proud, I was very proud. When I decided to apply for a new position in the Los Angeles office, I didn't even realize that that was the office where this Special Agent Eppes worked. And when I heard I would be working in his team I was thrilled.

Only on the way over I realized that working in the best crime solving team in the US might be a bridge too far for me. What if I wasn't good enough? What if was supposed to replace someone amazing, what if everyone, especially this Special Agent Eppes would compare me to that person?

Never before had I been this insecure about myself. I had worked so hard to get where I was today, and I knew I was good at my job. But now I wondered whether for Special Agent Don Eppes that would be enough.

With clammy hands I walked in the building. I was given directions to go up in the elevator and I would report on the second floor.

When I got out of the elevator I saw that the layout of the room was very similar to Boston. The atmosphere however was very different. The same professionalism here was decorated with something else, something I couldn't quite place. Something nice.

I slowly began to walk forward, taking in my environment, when suddenly a man came up to me from one of the cubicles.

He was about 35, with short dark brown hair and some lines around his eyes telling me he had seen a lot of stuff in his life so far. He appeared to have been studying me, and I could see a smile forming on his face.

'Hi, you're Special Agent Reeves? My name is Don Eppes, welcome in LA.' He extended his hand.

I slowly came out of my reverie and shook his hand.

From the moment I walked into this office it felt like I had belonged here all my life, and I could feel the same comfortable feeling radiating from the man in front of me.

I suddenly knew that I had nothing to worry about.


	5. Don

Don

I was kind of scared to meet her at first.

She would be coming in today, her first day as a member of my team.

Terry, my partner in fighting crime, once my partner in life, had only just left. And today she was going to be replaced, by Special Agent Megan Reeves, from the Boston department.

When Terry had left, she left a huge gap. Not only in my heart, I would be losing a very good friend and partner, but also in the team. Terry, David and all the others were so trained to work with each other that our team worked like a well oiled machine.

I always knew that that was one of the reasons our team had been the one with the highest crime solving percentage last year. Of course, I wasn't denying Charlie's help, but I knew that our team dynamics had been perfect. And now Terry was gone.

Special Agent Megan Reeves would take her place.

I heard from my superiors that she was very good at her work, and that I was very lucky to have her on my team. And I was of course. But still I couldn't imagine her to fill in the gap so easily.

She was from the Boston office, and every office was said to have their own style. And of course that wasn't bad; I just hoped her style would fit in this team.

With clammy hands I awaited her arrival.

Suddenly the elevator doors opened and a woman appeared with light brown hair falling over her shoulders. I realized this must be her and I observed her for a moment.

She appeared to be taking in her environment slowly, trying to get a feel of the place. Then she started walking towards me, and while she came closer I studied her face.

In the few seconds that had passed she had been transforming from a stranger to the woman before me, and suddenly I realized that I had never seen someone fit in so much. It was like she had always worked here, and she was a part of the team already.

I think we both realized that, because a smile was forming on her face and I noticed that I started to smile back.

I walked up to her and extended my hand.

'Hi, you're Special Agent Reeves? My name is Don Eppes, welcome in LA.'

The smile on her face grew even more, and when she shook my hand back I felt how comfortable it already felt.

I knew I had nothing to worry about.


	6. David

David

I was kind of scared to meet him at first.

Not that I was really scared to meet **him**, but I was a little apprehensive of the consequences it might bring. Meeting a new member of the team. A little while ago Agent Reeves had joined the team, but she had been more a less a replacement for Terry. Not the same at all, but it had felt like her place in the team was already established long before she came. With this guy, Agent Granger, it would be different.

He had to create a whole new place within the team. He wasn't replacing anyone. And yet, it still felt like he might be replacing me.

In situations like these, I feel like I was back at High School again. Constantly worried about being part of some group, always trying to belong somewhere. And although I might not show it, these are the situations in which I become really insecure. What if I don't belong to the team anymore? What if somehow **he** was going to take my place?

I know I am overreacting, we're all adults now. It's not a matter of being popular, and Agent Granger is just going to be my coworker. And I knew that no one wanted to get rid of me. I just…, I just couldn't stop thinking he was replacing me.

With clammy hands I closed the last yards to the elevator. I had had the morning off because I had been called in the night before, and Agent Granger would have arrived at the office by now. While riding the elevator to the second floor I tried to calm my nerves a bit, try to act cool, but at the same time I kept hoping that they hadn't given my desk to Agent Granger yet.

With a 'ding' the elevator announced its arrival at the second floor and the doors opened. Slowly I got out of the elevator and my eyes immediately went to my desk. It sounds stupid now, but I was relieved that my desk was still there, and not taken over by some new guy.

Immediately after that I noticed that somehow they had created space for a small desk in the corner, and behind it sat a big man. I could only see his back from where I was standing but it was obvious that the desk he was working on, in that small corner, was not suited to his size. His shoulders were drawn up almost to his ears, his elbows were pressed to his sides and he was sitting on a small foldable plastic chair. And only two feet away was my own desk, large, roomy and with a very comfortable chair. Empty.

I smiled to myself. I am not a vindictive person, I didn't even know the guy, but it felt good to see the new guy working in a cramped space like that, but most of all it felt good to see my own desk. Still there, still mine.

Of course this was only temporary; they would make sure that Agent Granger got a normal sized desk of his own. And until that time I might even let him sit at my desk when I'm not using it. But not quite yet. Today it would be my desk.

And although I knew I still had some territorial issues to work out for myself, I knew that with the new guy I had nothing to worry about.


End file.
